Foldable truck.



G. H. FARLAND & A. SWANSON.

FOLDABLE TRUCK.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.4,1908.

920,553 Patented May 4, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 f 'rom beneath,

CORNELIUS FARLAND AND ANTHONY SWANSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FOLDABLE TRUCK.

Specification 01 Letters Patent.

latented. May 4, 1909.

Application flied November 4, 1908. Serial No. 460,890.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CORNELIUS I-l. FAR- Limo and ANTHONY SWANBON, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Foldable Trucks, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in foldable trucks.

The object of our invention is to provide a. truck of the character mentioned, which will be of uch construction as to be particularly applicable for use in repairing those parts of a. vehicle, more especially of an automobile, accessible only from beneath the vehicle.

At the present time upon the breakage or other disablemcnt of at part of a vehicle, cs-

ecially of an automobile, accessible only it becomes necessary in order to facilitate repairing; such part, for the vehicle operator to crawl beneath the machine, which as known, is very awkward and inconvenient, moreover, it often results in a loss of time and soiling of clothing.

The object of our invention is to obviate such inconvenience by providing a truck which will be of such construction as to be adapted to support the body of a man, in lying down position, said truck being adapted to be readily and easily rolled beneath an automobile, and, upon the repair being made, to be readily machine; hence, it pacity and obviation of the inconveniences as stated.

A still further object of our invent ion is to provide a foldable truck of the character mentioned, which will be adapted, when not in use, to be folded together so to occupy a small space for storage and transprtation.

A still further object is to provide a truck of the character 'mentioncd, which will be strong and durable, simple of construction, hence of low cost to manufacture.

Other objects will nppcu'r hereinafter.

- l/V ith these objects in view, our invention consists in a truck characterized as abovementioned and in certain details of construction and arrangement of parts, all as will be hereinafter more full described, and particularly pointed out in t 9 claims.

Uur invention will be more readily understo d by reference to the accompanying 1 the platform.

rolled from beneath the i truck serving in the caj the some being hinged together l l l l i ii i l l drawings formingl a part of this specification, and in whie Figure 1 is a top plan ferrcd form of our device, plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a side elevation thereof, Fig. 4 is a vertical lon itudinal section taken on the line o:m of" i 1, Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse section to en on the line y-y of Fig. 1, Fig. (i is a sectional detail of the hinge means embodied in our invention, and Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the head rest embodied in our invention deinched Referring now to the drawings, our improved truck consists of the forward and rearward sections 1 and- 2, respectively,

at their adjoining rdgcs 3 and 4. Said sections are preferably of equal lengths, but of slightly diilorent shapes, the forward section 1 bring preferably substantially triangular in shape. whereas the rearward section 2 is rectangular as shown, the some being of such shapes so as to conform more nearly to the shape of the body of a man, it being our object to provide a truck macupying a small amount of space and one of as light weight as possible. Each of said truck sec view of the pre- Fig. 2 is a bottom lions. is constructed of an angle iron frame 3, preferably of a single piece of material, shaped as stated. to which is suitably se (HM-(l. ireforublv by means of screws, or bolts 5 a platform 7. the latter'being formed of any suitable muteriul, but preferably of wood of such a thirknos that the upper surface thereof will be (lush with the upper edge of said frame. 8 is a brace-bar, the end portions lhereol' being secured as by rivets 9 to the forward truck ection frame Any suitable form of hinge means may be emplovcd for scouring snid Sltt'tlOllS to gelher. lowcver. the preferable form of bingo nit-nus, that is, the form shown in the drawings, consists of substantially similar hinge members ill, the are secured. preferably riveted to the inside suri'arc of tho vrrtirully extending portions of the adjoining frame cud ortions l2 and 115. The perforated overlapping forward end portions 14 of said members 10 areprefcrabl y circular in shape and rojert above the edge of the frame, its clear y shown in Fig. 0, the axis of the hinge-pin 14, passing through the perforations in said portions 14, lying in the same plane as the surface of shanks ll of which.

By this construction it is.

ill]

.eter.

obvious that thetruck may be readily folded departing from the spirit of our invention.

together, the sections thereof in which event, And although we have constructed our de lie in parallel planes, with their top surfaces adjoining, such position of the truck sections is shown by dotted lilies in Fig. .3. Provided at suitable points upon the under surface of said truck sections, the same being preferably secured to the frame 5 there of, are casters 3, preferably live in number, one being provided at the forward end portion of the se tion 1, the other four being secured to the section 2, one at each of the corners thereof. It is understood that casters of any ordinary or preferred form may be employed without departing from the spirit of our invention.

The forward end portion of the truck sec- 'tion 1, is provided with a plate 15, secured as by rivets 10 to the frame-5 thereof, the forward end portion of the platform of said section being, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, cut away, so as to accommodate said plate. Said plate 15 is perforated as at 17, and is provi ed with an upwardly extending flange l8 surrounding said perforation.

19 is a concave disk, preferably of sheet metal, the same being of any suitable diam- The downwardly extending cylindrical stem or base 20 of said disk is adapted to fit snugly in the socket-forming perforation 17 of the plate 15, the shoulder 21 formed upon said stem 20, being adapted, when said stem is positioned in said pocket, to rest upon the upper cdge of the flange 18, as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

When using our device, the same being arranged as shown in the drawings, that is with the truck unfolded and the head rest in position, it is obvious that the repairer may lie down thereon face upward, in which case, the disk member 19 acts as a head rest, whereupon the truck may be rolled under the automobile or other vehicle. The repair upon the vehicle being made, the truck may then be rolled back again. B the provision of such a device, it is evi out that access to an under part of a machine may readily and quickly be facilitated, and without danger or damage to the clothing. In order to further protect the clothing, the upper surface of the truck sections may be covered with a carpet or other suitable material, although the latter is not essential. Upon finishing usin the device, the head rest being removed, t 0 same may be folded together, as before stated.

Because of its occupying such a comparatively small amount of space, the device may readily be carried in any suitable place in an automobile.

While we have shown what we deem to be the preferable form of our device, we do vice for the special purpose of supporting a man, while repairing a vehicle from beneath, it is understood that we might use the same for any other purpose for which it is applicable.

Having described our invention what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A truck comprising foldable platform sections hin edly secured together at their .d joining edges, casters provided upon the under surface of said sections, and a head rest detachably secured to the upper surface of the end portion of one of said sections, substantially as and for the purpose specilied.

2. A truck comprising foldable platform sections hingedly secured to ether at their adjoining edges, casters fix to the under surfaces of said sections, one being provided at the forward end ortion of one of said sections and four being provided upon the other of said sections one at each corner thereof, a head rest detachably secured to the end portion of one of said sections, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. A truck eoniprisin foldable platform sections hingedly secure together at the extremities of their adjoining edges, casters secured to the under surface of said sections at the end ortion thereof, a concave disk, and means or detaehably securing said disk to the up or surface of the end portion of one of said sections, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. A truck comprising foldable sections, hingedly secured together at the extremities of their adjoining edges, said sections being adapted to be folded into parallel planes, each of said sections consisting of a metal peripheral frame and a platform secured in said frame, casters seen red to the under surfare of saidiframes, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

5. A truck comprising foldable sections hingedly secured together at theextr ities of their adjoinin edges, each of said sections consisting o an angle iron peri heral frame, and a platform secured in said rame, the forward truck section being substantially triangular in shape, the rearward of said sections being rectangular in-shape, casters secured to the under surface of said section frames one being secured to the forward end portion of the forward truck section, a number of said casters beingisecured to the rearward of said sections, a and rest, and means of detachably securing the same to the upper surface of the forward end portion of the forward truck section, substantially as described.

U. A truck comprising foldable sections u the extremities of their adjoining: edges, 1 lers provided upon the under surface of said illlfl sections hein g adapted to be folded into sections, substantially as described. a

parallel planes, each pl said sections consist In testimony whereof we have signed oin mg of an angle iron peripheral frame, and names to this specification in the presence cl 5 n plnl l'urln severed therein, a head rest, said 1W0 subscribing witnesses.

head rest consistingof u enneave disk and a CORNELIUS H. FARLAND. stem depending from the under surface ANTHONY SlVANSON. thereof, said stem being adapted to be re- Witnesses:

ceived in a socket provided in the forward I-InLnx F. LJLLIS,

10 end portion of one of said sections, and ens JANET E. HOGAX. 

